1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the present invention generally relate to a protective helmet.
2. Background Art
Participants in sports involving contact with other players or objects are particularly susceptible to head and brain injuries. It is well known to use various types of protective headgear during participation in these sporting activities to prevent or limit injuries. The amount of protection afforded by headgear is determined by many factors, including the fit of the headgear on the user's head and the type, location, and amount of padding used in the headgear.
Furthermore, players of different sports require various degrees of protection from headgear depending on the amount of head impact commonly encountered in the sport. In sports such as American football, where violent head to head or head to ground contact is commonplace, the ideal headgear has a substantial amount of padding and is formed of a substantially rigid shell so as to provide maximum protection to the athlete. In sports involving somewhat lower impact forces to the head, such as hockey, the ideal headgear is more closely tailored to the shape of the user's head while still providing sufficient protection.
To achieve a tailored fit, it is well known to construct hockey helmets with separate front and back pieces. This construction allows for a degree of custom fitting, but results in a helmet that is adjustable only along one axis. Other helmet constructions utilize adjustable liner systems. While these systems improve the fit of the helmet, the size of the helmet shell itself is not adjustable. This results in a helmet with a shell that is unnecessarily bulky. Thus, there is a need for a helmet that allows for an improved fit to the head of an athlete.
There is also a need for a helmet with a shell that allows for an improved fit while at the same time offering an adjustable amount of padding. Inflatable articles of manufacture or bladders for use in inflatable articles of manufacture have been known for decades. Such articles of manufacture include inflatable air mattresses and pillows, inflatable life preservers and rafts, and athletic equipment. In the field of athletic equipment, inflatable bladders have been incorporated in the interior of balls (e.g., basketballs, footballs, soccer balls, etc.), as well as in articles of protective apparel, gloves, chest protectors and footwear.
U.S. application Ser. No. 10/887,927 filed on Jul. 12, 2004 (and published as U.S. Published Patent Application No. 20050028404-A1 on Feb. 10, 2005), the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety, discloses a shoe having an inflatable bladder. Other pumps and valves, suitable for use, among other things, with inflatable bladders for helmets, are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,113,599, 5,074,765 and 5,144,708, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.
Inflatable bladders have also been incorporated into protective helmets. However, these helmets are bulky and not well adapted to sports where a helmet with a more tailored fit is required. Accordingly, there is a need in the art to have a lightweight protective helmet that is able to provide a custom fit to an individual user while at the same time providing an adequate amount of cushioning.